As we have often noted, the prevalent mythic perception of the Serpent amidst the minds of many is that of a demonic antagonist - and a male one, at that. There are solid reasons for this, of course: foremost among these is the Judeo-Christian baseline many of tend to operate under, where a certain serpent … Continue reading THE QUEEN OF SERPENTS – THE SERPENTINE FIGURE OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN EARTH MOTHER
Hinduism
The Shooting Goddess Of Order And Growth – The War-Effort Of The Natural World [An Extract from ‘The Queen of Serpents – The Serpentine Figure Of The Indo-European Earth Mother’]
The term - and, indeed, theonym - in question is 'Hora', best known in its plural formulation - 'Horae' (from the same root as modern English 'Hour', 'Year', etc.). In Greek usage, this refers to a set of Goddesses Who both regulate the passing of the seasons and various elements of righteous conduct - in … Continue reading The Shooting Goddess Of Order And Growth – The War-Effort Of The Natural World [An Extract from ‘The Queen of Serpents – The Serpentine Figure Of The Indo-European Earth Mother’]
The War-Shrine Of Tanot Mata [Incredible Indo-European Holy Sites Series Part III]
One of my criteria for judging whether a culture is spiritually healthy, is how it treats its religion. Is it something that is actively integrated? Into the culture, into the state, into daily life? Or is it merely something that is wheeled out in the manner of Easter in much of the West - a symbol, … Continue reading The War-Shrine Of Tanot Mata [Incredible Indo-European Holy Sites Series Part III]
On Odin Brihaspati As Song-Smith – The Sung Seizing Of The Wealth Of Cows
The Nordic textual corpus is a frustrating, glinting thing. So often we glance across a passage therein which evidently speaks to something that is evidently far deeper in meaning than what is written there upon the page … and yet which the ravages of time and obscurity mean that we now cannot feasibly interpret except … Continue reading On Odin Brihaspati As Song-Smith – The Sung Seizing Of The Wealth Of Cows
On Lord Shiva As Tripurantaka In The Vedas
Tomorrow marks one of the more important Shaivite observances of the year - Tripurari Purnima / Kartik Purnima . Which, inter alia, commemorates the Destruction of the Three Fortresses of the Demons by Lord Shiva . Now, it is often asserted by some that Lord Shiva is somehow not a Vedic God - something I … Continue reading On Lord Shiva As Tripurantaka In The Vedas
On The Inspiration Of The Balochistan Hindus To The Modern Indo-European Devotee
We occasionally may feel that it is a bit difficult being of an Indo-European religion amidst the 21st century. In most of the world, we are minorities - and with the major exception of Hinduism, the faith(s) of our forefathers are near-extinct even despite some salient efforts at resurrective, revitalizing revanchism. Yet spare a thought … Continue reading On The Inspiration Of The Balochistan Hindus To The Modern Indo-European Devotee
On The Concepts Of Religious Warfare And Foreign Religion Amidst The Archaic Indo-Europeans
Something I have been absolutely perplexed by in the past few days, is a sudden upwelling of people who seek to claim that 'religious war' was a 'monotheistic' or more specifically 'Christian' invention; and that prior to this, the non-/pre-Christian world had neither these concepts, nor even the barest notion that there could be such … Continue reading On The Concepts Of Religious Warfare And Foreign Religion Amidst The Archaic Indo-Europeans
Of Hittites And Hindus And Their Respective Differing Receptions Amidst Some
We often hear people attack Hinduism as being 'impure' from an Indo-European perspective - purportedly hopelessly "compromised" via incorporations of all manner of non-IE customs and cults. I disagree most strongly with much of that, of course - and have repeatedly demonstrated how what often looks non-IE to a certain sort of observer … is … Continue reading Of Hittites And Hindus And Their Respective Differing Receptions Amidst Some
Witzel On The Essential Coterminities Of Vedic And Later Hindu Religion
Something I have often shouted in the course of my work is the fact that Hinduism - the 'modern' Hinduism - is not some sort of 'new religion' built up atop the ruins of the old Vedic religion. People seem to think that the two things are fundamentally different, almost irreconcilable - and that even … Continue reading Witzel On The Essential Coterminities Of Vedic And Later Hindu Religion
The Indo-European Cosmology – A Brief Guided Tour : Part One – Ritual Space And The Radiating Law
Two areas I have long intended to direct more effort towards extolling - are Indo-European Cosmology and Ritual. Both are fascinating, and as it happens, quite fundamentally coterminous much of the time. However, they're also both huge - and so instead of a series of five-to-fifty-thousand wor(l)d plus megaliths, I thought I'd try something a … Continue reading The Indo-European Cosmology – A Brief Guided Tour : Part One – Ritual Space And The Radiating Law